The ShapeOko has been sitting idle for a while, so I decided to take a stab at making my own speakers. I wanted to do something small that I bring outside and hang on my pergola when entertaining guests on our new patio. After perusing the web and checking out some speakers and online enclosure calculators, I landed on a set of HiVi B3N’s (3″) and tweeters. Given that they won’t be permanently mounted...

The Logitech MX Anywhere mouse is by far the best mouse I have ever had. I currently have 2. However, these mice have a common design flaw – the mouse button that is used most often (left in my case) for clicking dies after a while. Maybe design flaw is a bit harsh. This is the only mouse that I have had for a long time and WANT to keep. I don’t want another mouse...

Just 24 hours earlier I built my first Lost Model Alarm. Not being satisfied with good enough, I’ve built an enhanced version. Of course, you could just buy one, but where’s the fun in that?! As mentioned in my original posting, Iwanted the alarm to have multiple modes. First, I wanted to be able to have it triggered while the TX is on using one of the available aux controls. Second, I wanted it to...

Let’s cut to the chase. You have a Samsung Galaxy Tab and you are tired of Googling for solutions trying to figure out why your Tab won’t charge. Hopefully this is the last place you have to look. My tab is about 2 yrs old and over the past few months I started noticing it would not charge consistently. I tried all the suggestions; using a different charger, swapping out the cable, disconnecting and...

In a few weeks, we’ll have a new patio. Like any new project I get into, I have to introduce a flavour of something DIY and electronic into the mix. Like most guys, I’m planning for sound. However, I’m also adding custom LED lighting to light up the armour stones, deck and pergola areas. As part of the patio job, we are also planning on having a variety of plants and shrubs around the...

BT Bot Control is an Android application that allows you to remotely control a micro controller-based robot using Bluetooth ( Arduino). It also allows you to (optionally) view a video stream from an IPCamera mounted to your robot. This could be any type wireless IP camera or phone that has the ability to broadcast a video stream/images to the web. Example Foscam, Ai-Cam etc. If you are looking to control your robot over WiFi,...

As a parent of 2 children and an obsession with cramming my hobbies in whenever I can, I decided to devise a means to remotely monitor my CNC (a ShapeOko) and also provide the ability for me to remotely shut it down if things go arwy during a milling session. I picked up a Foscam FI8918W IPCam at a ‘car boot’ sale (I love that name) when I was visting in England this...

Lately, I’ve been toying around with different LED strips for my projects. I’ve had the chance to use a variety of LED strips (both RGB, and single colour types). They come in many flavours – water proof, 3m-backed, silcone encased, sealed, non-sealed, exposed etc. All have their advantages / disadvantages.

Next on the block – adding LEDs to the foot wells and glove box. (Prev mods: LED Tails and Rear Passenger LED mods) This mod can be especially useful this time of year up here on the 49th parallel since we are pretty much in darkness @ 5PM during November. All to often I drop something down near my feet and have to go looking for it. The light that casts from the map...

I’m a sucker for not conforming to status quo when it comes to my This includes my new Nissan (2012) Juke. In this mod, I added a set of LED light strips to the tail lights with a twist – I wanted to also monitor and react to braking to enhance the effect. I decided to go with an ATTiny85 using the Arduino core. It only needed 1 input from the 12V brake...

PlastiBots is giving away a copy of Building Robots with LEGO Mindstorms NXT authored by yours truely! Contest ends March 31st. Enter for your chance to win. You email will only be used for this contest entry. Don't forget to share for more chances to win! (Pssst, the share link will show after you submit your entry)

Contest Rules & Disclaimer

1) Available to Continental US and Canadian users. Sorry, International users.
2) 1 winner will be randomly selected. 1 prize will be given away at the end of the contest.
3) The more you share, the more chances you have to win.
4) Spambots or any type of auto submission attempts will be monitored and entries removed.
5) The winner will be contacted via email. Full name and shipping address will b required to ship the prize.
6) Only the winner will be notified.
7) Contest ends March 31st.
8) Your email is being collected only for the purpose of this contest. It will not be used for any other purpose and will only be used to contact you should you be chosen as the winner.